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Our prespecified primary objective was to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of influenza vaccination during an influenza period with epidemic activity among persons recommended for annual influenza vaccination. In the 1999-2000 winter season, influenza A activity was epidemic, whereas the 2 following seasons had only very mild influenza activity and were therefore unsuitable for our objective. The highly statistically significant relative risk reduction of 43% in general practice visits due to acute respiratory disease during the study season further supports the current guidelines to vaccinate children with high-risk medical conditions against influenza. Damoiseaux et al questioned our findings, referring to the trial by Bueving et al¹ among children with asthma and a trial by Hoberman and colleagues.² However, the findings from those trials were not convincing. The influenza vaccine trial by Bueving et al¹ among children with asthma had serious flaws including inadequate statistical power and pooling of data . . . [Full Text of this Article]

AUTHOR INFORMATION
Eelko Hak, MSc, PhD; Erik Buskens, MD, PhD; Theo J. M. Verheij, MD, PhD